Bristol or Dublin?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Dublin at least has proper sand on its doorstep. Dollymount, Sandymount and Killiney are reachable on the DART, and its year-round swimming habit, with early dips at the Forty Foot or under Dalkey, is something a visitor can join in.

Bristol faces a muddy, silt-brown estuary with one of the world's largest tidal ranges. Weston-super-Mare's sands are near, but the tide goes out so far that swimming takes planning. Clevedon's Victorian marine lake is the realistic swim, and real beaches mean a long drive into Devon, Cornwall or Gower.

Bristol is the more interesting place to eat, provided you like to graze. St Nicholas Market, the container kitchens on the harbourside and the bakeries and small restaurants along Gloucester Road and in Bedminster give it range and character, and West Country cider and warehouse taprooms make drinking a local experience.

Dublin's best cooking rests on excellent Irish fish, beef, lamb and cheese, served in modern bistros, but the menus rarely surprise and meals cost a lot for what arrives. Its strength is the glass rather than the plate: slow-poured stout in a Victorian pub and Irish whiskey from its own distilleries.

Dublin has more to see and packs it closer together. Trinity's Long Room and the Book of Kells, the free archaeology museum and National Gallery, the Chester Beatty Library and Kilmainham Gaol make three full days, all set among Georgian squares and running with literary history from Joyce to Wilde.

Bristol's sights tell the story of a trading port and Victorian engineering. Brunel's SS Great Britain and the Clifton Suspension Bridge are the highlights, with St Mary Redcliffe, M Shed and Banksy's early street art filling in. Two or three days cover it, and neither city has truly grand monuments.

Both cities are good nights out, but they mean different things by it. Bristol is the clubber's city: the sound-system culture behind trip hop and drum and bass lives on in warehouses and railway arches near Temple Meads, and weekends run late.

Dublin is all about the pub, with snugs, coal fires and conversation off Grafton Street and younger late bars on Camden and Wexford Streets. Licensing laws close most venues early, so nights there rarely reach dawn.

Dublin has the better outdoors within easy reach. Phoenix Park, with its fallow deer, sits inside the city, the cliff path at Howth looks out over seals and sea, and the granite Wicklow Mountains begin just beyond the suburbs, with Glendalough about an hour away.

Bristol's green spaces are pleasant but softer. The Downs and the climbing cliffs of the Avon Gorge, Ashton Court's deer park and the railway path to Bath are close, and the Mendips and Cheddar Gorge make good walking. For real upland, though, the Brecon Beacons and Exmoor are a couple of hours off.

Staying in Bristol puts a whole region within a day's reach, and some of it very easily. Bath and Cardiff are short train rides, so either can be done on a whim. Wells and Glastonbury lie about an hour south, and the Cotswold villages of Castle Combe and Lacock, Stonehenge, Avebury and Salisbury all make full days, though for these you want a car or a coach tour.

Dublin's outings are fewer, but they go deep. The Neolithic passage tombs at Newgrange and Knowth in the Boyne Valley are older than the pyramids, and Glendalough's monastic site sits in a wooded Wicklow valley. Kilkenny and Belfast both work as a day out by train, but most rural sites are far easier with a tour or a hire car.

Bristol keeps its children's attractions together on one stretch of harbour, while Dublin's best family day is out in Phoenix Park. In Bristol the SS Great Britain, a hands-on science centre with a planetarium and the aquarium are linked by little ferries, and a wildlife park lies on the northern edge. The steep hills are hard work with a pushchair, though, and there is no theme park nearby.

Dublin's flat centre is easier with small children. The zoo sits inside the park with deer to look for, Dublinia's Viking displays and the free natural history museum fill a wet afternoon, and a theme park is half an hour's drive away. Children are welcome in pubs at lunchtime too.

Dublin is the easier city to move around. Its centre is flat, two Luas tram lines cross it, the DART runs along the bay to Howth and Dalkey, and one card covers trams, trains and buses.

Bristol's core is compact but hilly, and the climb to Clifton tires legs quickly. With no tram or metro, anything beyond the centre means buses caught in traffic, though the yellow harbour ferries are a pleasant way to get along the water.

Bristol is for browsing independent streets, Dublin for buying something Irish to take home. In Bristol the long run of record shops, delis and vintage clothes on Gloucester Road, and the galleries in Clifton Village's Georgian arcades, have more character than the chain stores of Cabot Circus.

Dublin's best buys are Aran knitwear, linen, tweed and whiskey, found off Grafton Street, in the Powerscourt Townhouse and in the craft shops around Drury Street. In both cities a shopping afternoon makes a nice extra but isn't a reason to go.

Money goes noticeably further in Bristol. It isn't cheap by British standards, and rooms climb at weekends and during events, but weekday hotels are fairly priced, the main museums and churches are free and street food keeps meals sensible.

Dublin is a hard city on a tight budget. Rooms near the centre are among the dearest in Europe, cheaper options are few, and a round in a city-centre pub soon adds up. The free national museums and gallery help, as do lunch menus and bakeries, and staying out along the DART or Luas brings the room bill down.

Dublin has the deeper stage tradition. The Abbey, the national theatre founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory, and the Gate give serious drama a real home, the National Concert Hall houses the national symphony orchestra, and fiddle and bodhrán sessions fill pubs most nights.

Bristol has the Old Vic, the oldest continuously working theatre in the English-speaking world, plus fringe Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. Its real strength, though, is small venues in Stokes Croft and Old Market hosting bands, jazz and electronic acts.

Bristol has the better options for unwinding, largely because Bath is so close. A quarter of an hour by train brings you to rooftop pools fed by Britain's only natural hot springs, and Clifton's heated Victorian lido with its spa makes a calm half day without leaving the city.

Dublin has no bathhouses or thermal tradition, only hotel spas. Its one ritual is a cold sea dip at the Forty Foot or Seapoint, often followed by a seafront sauna, and otherwise calm means long walks in Phoenix Park.